After a heartbreaking weekend for the nation featuring two mass shootings, one in the name of white supremacist terrorism and the other by a deranged left-winger with a still unclear motive, here’s a story that makes you wonder whether to laugh or cry: Laura Loomer launched a congressional bid for Florida’s 21st Congressional District.
You know, that Laura Loomer, the anti-Muslim activist and who has been banned not only by big global businesess including PayPal and Uber but also by CPAC for publicly harassing journalists and Muslim Lyft drivers, and using tech services to assist Islamophobic hate organizations.
Democratic incumbent Lois Frankel ran unopposed last election cycle. This time there are plenty of candidates vying for the GOP nomination to run against Frankel, including a decorated combat veteran and a nuclear engineer.
Republican Party leaders and politicians have plenty of seemingly great patriots to chose from. And yet:
I fully endorse Laura Loomer in her quest for Congress. She has proven herself to be an army of one and embodies fearlessness. #LauraLoomerForCongress #FreedomOfSpeech #Freedomcaucus #MAGA2020
— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) August 3, 2019
As hilarious as Loomer’s inevitable public implosion may be, it’s still an ominous one so long as Republicans wishing to consider themselves members of respectable society entertain her candidacy seriously.
Surely some of her desperate campaign tactics will be mockable and entertaining (she chained herself to Twitter headquarters after they banned her), but there are also reasons to find her run unfunny.
As this weekend’s shooting in El Paso reminded the nation, white supremacist terrorism is on a terrifying uptick, and histrionic loony tunes like Loomer have suicide bombed their reputations, permanently, to enable them.
Loomer’s radicalization began just as so many Jihadist terrorists did, in childhood after 9/11 and with an increasingly complete belief that the other — in Loomer’s case, Islam in all forms — is incompatible with her way of life. At just 25 years old, she’s achieved the following:
- Palling around with literal white supremacists like Richard Spencer and Baked Alaska
- Campaigning for the failed mayoral bid of “Unite the Right” attendee Faith Goldy, who swears she’s not a literal neo-Nazi and simply enjoys promoting books that call for the genocide of Jews and declaring the 14-word credo of neo-Nazism
- Branding herself a free-speech warrior by having a meltdown in front of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, just a year after being arrested for shutting down a Manhattan production of Julius Caesar
- Getting arrested again for attempting to break into the California Governor’s Mansion wearing a poncho and sombrero
- Spreading false flag conspiracy theories about the Santa Fe High School shooting and anti-Democratic mail bomb attempts
The Republican Party avoided six years of shame by a razor thin margin when Doug Jones beat credibly accused sexually pedophilic predator Roy Moore in blood red Alabama, and it only dumped white nationalist Steve King from all congressional committee assignments this year. Party members, and especially party leaders, ought to buck up to a reality check, stop betting on racist trolls in the name of owning the libs, and start electing candidates who are worthy of the party of Abe Lincoln.
Correction 1: When posted on Aug. 6, this article mistakenly reported that Ms. Loomer had been banned by MGM Resorts. Despite several prior press reports that said so, that is incorrect. We regret the error.
Correction 2: This article, as originally published, stated incorrectly that Ms. Loomer had never been a resident of the congressional district for whose seat she is running. We discovered the mistake in early 2020. We regret the error.
